


My Soulmate Now

by Anonymous



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Community: cabinpres_fic, M/M, Soulmates AU, flangst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-13
Updated: 2012-01-13
Packaged: 2017-10-29 23:11:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/325211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p><a href="http://cabinpres-fic.dreamwidth.org/783.html?thread=2999311#cmt2999311">Originally posted here</a></p>
    </blockquote>





	My Soulmate Now

**Author's Note:**

> [Originally posted here](http://cabinpres-fic.dreamwidth.org/783.html?thread=2999311#cmt2999311)

"I _have_ told her, actually. Shortly after you came by."

Douglas surveyed Martin's reaction. He seemed worried.

"Oh. She couldn't have... There's no way to tell if someone's... someone else's soulmate, is there?"

"No, Martin, that's just a television trope. This had nothing to do with you."

"Oh, good! Good. And how, um, how did she react?"

"Well, I have to say that you were right, actually."

"Oh! That's... the first time you've ever said that to me, you know."

Trust Martin to point out every little thing that, in his opinion, undermined the clear truth of his and Douglas' connection.

"You were right," Douglas continued as if he hadn't heard Martin, "that I would feel much better after telling her. She was glad I told her _my_ secret, because it made it easier for her to tell me _hers_."

"Oh."

"Hers was the more conventional one. 'Darling, I've been misleading you about the rank I hold in a small charter airline' is, I flatter myself, not a confession often made, on telly or in real life. 'Darling, I've finally found my soulmate' is more... run of the mill, shall we say."

"Oh. I'm so sorry, Douglas."

"Why are you? _I'm_ not. I'm happy for her. You have no idea what it feels like to finally meet your soulmate - oh wait."

"Douglas..."

"So, moving none too subtly on to a subject of mutual interest, would you agree to pursue our predestined relationship _now_?"

"Douglas..."

"Helena has filed for divorce, and these cases move very fast. I wouldn't be cheating on anyone, or breaking anyone's heart."

"How can we be soulmates when you're not even listening to me? Everything I've said before still stands. Just because some bizarre law of the universe says we belong together doesn't mean we- we should be together. You don't even like me! Or any of the things I do or say!"

"Martin, we can't _not_ get along - we were literally made for each other."

"Well, then the universe must have made a mistake when they made me! That's what you told me when we met! Do you think I could forget that?"

"What?" Douglas was taken aback.

"You said," Martin's voice was strangled and tight, "the universe had eighteen years to think, and this is who they came up with. You only care about me because of some fluke of biology and fate that science hasn't explained yet! You don't l-like _me_ for myself!"

"Martin. There are no other words I'd rather take back, not even the three Yeses I've said at the altar to the wrong people, than that silly jest I made, not knowing you'd take it like that."

"But you can't take it back!" Martin yelled. "No one ever wanted me, all my life, and I was okay, thinking no one wanted me because I just hadn't found the true one, and then- then it turns out that not even the person I was presumably born for _liked_ me."

"Martin-" Douglas tried, but Martin was in full rant mode now.

"To think, all those years spent trying to get my licence, it was probably just so I'd meet you! It's probably why I lo- why I _think_ I love flying, because it was the only way for us to meet! You in your upper class circle, with your posh friends and expensive car, and-- me, living off toast and pasta for years just so I could be ridiculed in front of passengers and ground staff! Learning all the rules and regulations just so I can see you break them with, with your smuggling and schemes!"

Douglas was quiet throughout this, because he did regret those words more than anything in the world, and because he suddenly had another insight.

"Martin," he said when Martin stopped for a breath, looking years older than when he'd started his tirade, "is it outside the realm of possibility that _you_ don't like _me_?"

* * *

Douglas sighed heavily and thumbed through the worn copy of Now What [1] that Helena had left behind. Shen-li had his own, probably.

> Use your and your soulmate's common interests (occupation, hobbies, skills, talents) to build a bridge between your two worlds. If you work together, you already have a great advantage over other couples - you probably get to spend a lot of time together. Use that time to gain a deeper understanding of your soulmate.

Douglas huffed and fought the urge to use the book to gain a deeper understanding of ballistics. All their time together at work - for him - and hobby - for Martin - had only brought them to this point.

Did Martin really not feel what he felt? That even arguing about a landing felt _right_ for the two of them, in the way not even a perfect date with Helena ever had?

His life was, statistically, more than halfway gone, and he hadn't had a way to share it with his one true partner. And now that he'd found him, bad luck finally caught up with Lady Luck's favourite son, and his one true soulmate didn't like _him_.

Douglas pushed the bottle away viciously, before he could change his mind. It fell and broke into thousand pieces. Douglas leant his head on the counter. He could have sold that whiskey. No doubt that's why his eyes were blurry.

"Douglas?"

Martin's voice, shaken and scared, right next to his ears. Great, he hadn't even drunk and he was having hallucinations.

"Douglas, are you all right?"

A hand joined the shaking; someone was shaking him.

"Douglas!"

Douglas raised his head with half-hearted interest. Even through the blur of tears, he couldn't mistake that face for anyone in the world.

"Martin?"

"Oh, God. Have you- have you been drinking?"

Douglas was tired and sad, but one look at Martin's face was enough to bring back all those feelings he had in Martin's presence. He almost hated the way he suddenly felt more animate.

"No, Captain. There's only one thing I'd rather drink now."

Martin frowned at him. "Are you sure you haven't drunk anything? It's- I- I've given things a think and- God, I'd feel horrible if you fell off the wagon because of me, just when..."

"Well, how about you smell my breath?" Douglas suggested daringly, hoping that Martin's half-utterance meant what he thought it meant.

Martin seemed frozen for long moments, his breath mingling with Douglas', their faces only inches away. Douglas was aching to breach that distance, but what were a few more minutes to a lifetime's wait?

When Martin did kiss him, it was so simple, almost unspectacular, and yet more than anything he could have imagined. Martin's lips weren't the most skilled he'd ever tasted, nor was his hair the silkiest he'd ever tangled his fingers in, but all the kisses he'd ever shared with anyone, man or woman, faded like burnt pages from an obsolete calendar.

Douglas fancied he might not need food, water, or even air, if he could just kiss Martin for the rest of his life. His wandering hands, however, following the habit of a lifetime, wanted more. Suddenly, the wonderful sensation ceased, leaving him looking at a trembling and tousled Martin.

Martin's eyes glanced briefly downwards, and Douglas realised that, of course, his body would react to the long-awaited feel of having his other half in his embrace in the most basic way it knew how.

"Martin..." Douglas began, unsure how to convey best what he was feeling. "I know you've never, ah, indulged in the delights of the flesh. I think you'd like them, especially since the spirit would be participating as well, but I'm not going to pressure you. Even if all we ever do is kiss, that one kiss with you was more fulfilling than the hottest sex I've ever had. And I've had plenty."

"Do you..." Martin bit his lip. "Do you really mean that?"

"Of course. I've had not only thousands of hostesses, but a fair few... hundreds of stewards as well."

Martin scowled and drew back, so Douglas went on smoothly.

"And none of it, not one, has been any better than trying to slake one's thirst with air. It's as if I've been looking through a smudged window, all my life. Listening to a concert with cotton in my ears."

Martin smiled, the first smile Douglas saw on his face. It was shy, but bright, like the first ray of sunshine after rain, promising to bloom into radiance.

"For me," he said shyly, "it-it felt like the first time I flew solo."

Whether thanks to Now What or not, Douglas understood by now enough to treasure the comparison for what it was. He'd have been happy with that, but Martin wasn't done.

"So maybe I was- born for you, and to fly, and since I gave flying seven tries, and would have given it more, m-maybe I should give you a couple of chances too."

He extended his hand to Douglas. Douglas took it, twining their fingers together, and together they walked towards the future.

______________________________________

[1] Shorthand for So, You've Met Your Soulmate - Now What? One of the 21st century's most influential books about soulmate dynamics and psychology, aimed especially at people who've met their soulmate later in life, and have therefore a higher likelihood of being confused about the "right" way to merge two previously unconnected lives.


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